States with the Biggest Bullying Problems

Sep 6, 2018 | Adam McCann, Financial Writer

89

SHARES

In the next 7 minutes, a child in the U.S. will be bullied. It may be the son or daughter of someone you know. It may even be your own child. Meanwhile, only four in 100 adults will intervene. And only 11 percent of the child’s peers might do the same. The rest — 85 percent — will do nothing.

According to the CDC’s 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 19% of students in grades 9-12 said they were bullied on school property in the previous 12 months. 14.9% of students surveyed said they were cyberbullied. Bullying takes many forms, and technological advances have opened new ways for bullies to hide behind anonymity.

Besides the physical, emotional and psychological tolls it takes on victims, bullying produces adverse socioeconomic outcomes. The Association for Psychological Science recently found that those who are bullies, victims or both are more likely to experience poverty, academic failure and job termination in their adulthood than those who were neither. In addition, the affected individuals are more likely to commit crime and to abuse drugs and alcohol.

Even our schools take a financial hit from bullying. According to a National Association of Secondary School Principals report, the average public school can incur more than $2.3 million in lost funding and expenses as a result of lower attendance and various types of disciplinary actions.

In light of back-to-school season, WalletHub measured the prevalence and prevention of bullying in 47 states and the District of Columbia to help bring awareness to its harmful effects not only to America’s young people but also to society as a whole. We examined each state based on 20 key metrics, ranging from “bullying-incident rate” to “truancy costs for schools” to “share of high school students bullied online.” Continue reading below for our findings, additional expert commentary and a full description of our methodology.

*Unfortunately, due to data limitations, the following states were excluded from our analysis: Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington.

Ask the Experts

Bullying can result in many negative consequences not only for the victim but also for the bullies themselves, their parents, their schools and society as a whole. In order to understand the causes of bullying and identify ways to prevent it, we asked the following key questions to several experts with extensive knowledge of bullying. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and responses.

What are the main factors that put a child at risk of being bullied?

What are the main factors that contribute to a child becoming a bully?

How can parents protect their children against cyberbullying in our socially connected society?

In evaluating the best and worst states in addressing bullying incidents, what are the top 5 indicators?

What kinds of programs should state and local governments develop in order to prevent bullying?

Should schools or parents face any liability when their children bully others?

Methodology

In order to identify the states with the biggest bullying problems, WalletHub compared the 47 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Bullying Prevalence, 2) Bullying Impact & Treatment and 3) Anti-Bullying Laws.

We evaluated these categories using 20 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the highest prevalence of bullying.

We then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Please note that Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington were excluded from our analysis due to data limitations.

For the “Cost of Truancy” measure, we assumed a single day of truancy per school year due to bullying and used the following formula:

Cost of Truancy for Schools as a Result of Bullying = 8%*ADA*(Spending per Pupil/180)

8 Percent: Rate of middle school students who reported skipping school at least once due to fear of being bullied

ADA: Average Daily Attendance

Spending per Pupil/180: Financing per school day, per pupil

Bullying Prevalence - Total Points: 50

Bullying-Incidents Rate: Full Weight (~16.67 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of high school students who were bullied on school property.

Cyberbullying-Incidents Rate: Full Weight (~16.67 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of high school students who were bullied online.

Physical-Violence Rate: Full Weight (~16.67 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of high school students involved in a physical fight on school property.

Bullying Impact & Treatment - Total Points: 25

Share of High School Students Who Missed School for Fear of Being Bullied: Full Weight (~4.17 Points)

Share of High School Students Who Experienced Feeling Sad or Hopeless: Half Weight (~2.08 Points)

Share of High School Students Who Attempted Suicide: Half Weight (~2.08 Points)

Psychologists per Capita: Full Weight (~4.17 Points)

Student-to-Counselor Ratio: Full Weight (~4.17 Points)

Child or Adolescent Therapists per Capita (per Residents under 18 Years Old): Full Weight (~4.17 Points)

Cost of Truancy for Schools Due to Bullying: Full Weight (~4.17 Points)

Anti-Bullying Laws - Total Points: 25

State Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

State Anti-Bullying Laws Including “Cyberbullying” or “Electronic Harassment”: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

State Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Including “Criminal Sanction”: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

State Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Including “School Sanction”: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

State Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Requiring School Policy: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

State Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Including “Off-Campus Behaviors”: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

Share of Secondary Schools that Engage in Practices Related to LGBTQ Youth: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

Presence of Adopted and Enacted Laws Regulating Mandatory School Resource Officers: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: This binary metric measures whether or not a state has adopted and enacted laws regulating the mandatory nature of school resource officers.

Share of Secondary Schools with Practices in Place to Prevent Bullying and Sexual Harassment: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: This metric refers to 4 categories of preventive practices:

All school staff received professional development on preventing, identifying, and responding to student bullying and sexual harassment;

Has a designated staff member to whom students can confidentially report student bullying and sexual harassment;

Uses electronic, paper, or oral communication to publicize and disseminate policies, rules, or regulations on bullying and sexual harassment;

Presence of CDC’s National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: This binary metric measures whether or not a Youth Violence Prevention Center is present in the state.

Sources: Data used to create these rankings were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Labor Statistics, StopBullying.gov, National Education Association, National Center for Education Statistics, National Conference of State Legislatures, Cyberbullying Research Center and Psychology Today.

Image: shironosov / iStock.com

Was this article helpful?

Awesome! Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry!Failed to send the feedback. Please try again later.

Disclaimer: Editorial and user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by financial institutions. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and have not been approved or otherwise endorsed by any financial institution, including those that are WalletHub advertising partners. Our content is intended for informational purposes only, and we encourage everyone to respect our content guidelines. Please keep in mind that it is not a financial institution’s responsibility to ensure all posts and questions are answered.

Ad Disclosure: Certain offers that appear on this site originate from paying advertisers, and this will be noted on an offer’s details page using the designation "Sponsored", where applicable. Advertising may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). At WalletHub we try to present a wide array of offers, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.

Community Discussion

Anonymous

February 13, 2019

The state needs to mandate that public schools change their climate by instilling bystanders to speak out and report bullying to school officials. Also incorporate classroom conversations and encourage students to have a help attitude with one another.

·

Anonymous

February 12, 2019

Is a low number good or bad? because I live in Wisconsin, and we have a 7, but I don't know how to read that

·

Anonymous

February 10, 2019

Bullying happens in all levels of educational institutions. It can happen in middle school, high school and amongst adults in colleges. I have been a victim of bullying, and I have reported it to teachers. I encouraged other victims to come forward, and they reported groups of bullies acting together ganging up on individual students to teachers and administration. The issue is that nothing is being done to stop bullies. The administrators of the school and the teachers acknowledged the problem but ignored it in their classrooms. Bullies keep hurting others because they are untouchable, and thus more victims keep appearing. Policies, laws actually need to be effectively enforced or this issue will never stop happening. What good is a law or a policy about stopping bullying, if nothing is ever done to stop it?

·

Anonymous

February 7, 2019

In my school, bullying was able to happen so often, because the teachers ignored the victim.

·

Anonymous

January 22, 2019

That's sad how people get bullyed every 7 minuets.

·

@cynthiajahi

December 13, 2018

This article is helpful because there needs to be a discussion around bullying and as I read the comments I see some good suggestions for more preventive measures. I especially think that as one person commented " Students, families must believe in the system and its enforcement. Too often I have seen the bully get away with bullying because they are young and the school seems to think the child that is the bully will just change over time. From what I have witnessed the bully gets braver, more confident in his/her bullying and the victims feel more helpless, angry and betrayed by the system. It must be addressed for children as young as 5 years of age. The sooner the child and their parent are informed that this behavior is not acceptable and the child/family receive counseling and if need be consequences then the sooner the bully can be identified and hopefully counseled into a kinder person.

·

Anonymous

October 25, 2018

The district, school administration and school staff set the tone for bullying prevention. Discipline policies must be aligned and applicable to deal with bullying behavior in a meaningful manor. Implementation must be consistent. Student, families must be believe in the system and its enforcement. Students have to be empowered to report bullying and bullies need services and or other interventions to help teach positive options to bullying behaviors.